New civics--translating higher degree research
(HDR) education policy in Australia

For several decades in higher education in Australia postgraduate research students have enjoyed a somewhat liberal educative experience, in part due to the hybrid nature of higher degree research (HDR) education and perhaps in part due to a somewhat mysterious reverence for research. Increasingly, however, HDR students are the subject of academic scholarship and Commonwealth and institutional policy focusing generally on improvement, but specifically on the student - supervisor relationship, timely completions, and more recently, the acquisition of generic capabilities. It is now believed that it is in the better interest of tertiary institutions and government to strategically manage HDR education. An important question is how is the change from 'mysterious' and 'laissez faire' to 'transparent' and 'managed' translated to students? How do students come to know what is expected of them? How do they become good students? In this paper I employ a metaphor of national civics pedagogy in quantifying four levels of institutional policy as evidenced in a nation-wide tertiary institution HDR policy survey. Moreover, as a student advocate and critical and active participant in my own educative experience, I highlight gaps in Commonwealth and institutional HDR pedagogy and suggest new ways to translate HDR policy to produce well informed 'citizens'.